


Orange Skies and Red Grass

by taramacIay



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Multi, Slash, Underage Kissing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-08-23
Updated: 2013-08-23
Packaged: 2017-12-24 09:15:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/938218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taramacIay/pseuds/taramacIay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Why would an eighteen-going-on-nineteen year old take an interest in a fifteen year old? That was probably the question Castiel Novak asked himself since the day Dean Winchester declared he was going to kiss him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Senior Meet Freshman

**Author's Note:**

> I will update the tags as I go along posting chapters. I'd rather not spoil anything.

“Dean Winchester,” a brown haired guy on the verge of adulthood stated, with a hint of surprise. “Never thought I’d see you around here again.”

The taller man – at nineteen, he considered himself one – with green eyes and tanned skin smiled and replied; “Yeah well, this is home. I was gonna come back sometime.”

“And you waited two months to come visit little old me?” The shorter man pouted and feigned hurt, “I am wounded, Dean. Truly.”

The Winchester just scoffed and retorted; “Maybe I just wanted to get some peace and quiet while I got settled in. You’re not exactly a calm guy.”

As the unnamed man clapped a hand on Dean’s back, nodding in agreement, the latter looked up at the house they were standing in front of, whistling. “This is a great place – your folks finally let you move out?”

“Yeah, but with one condition...”

Just as the sentence trailed off, the pair of them saw a black haired teenager – perhaps sixteen – poke his head out of the window. “Gabriel,” he called, “our dinner seems to be burning. Instead of catching up with your friend outside, perhaps you could do so whilst cooking.”

Dean looked inquisitively at Gabriel, who sighed and rolled his eyes at his younger sibling – who had already retreated back inside. “My brother has to live with me until he’s eighteen.”

“I get you. Sammy’s moving in with me now I’m back. But he’s a great kid.” They walked in and Dean stared at the clean floors, “I expected more of a mess.”

As Gabriel led him to the kitchen, he spoke; “yeah well Cassie’s a good kid too. He’s too well behaved though – sometimes it seems he’s in charge. He’s a bit too uptight.”

“How old is- Oh god!” The door to the kitchen opened, and suddenly the smell of burning food overwhelmed his sense of smell. “What are you cooking in there?” He shouted as he ran for the window and opened it.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit.” Gabriel muttered as he opened the oven door and pulled out a tray of charred food. “I guess we’re having pizza.”

A voice from behind them startled the two, “you’re paying for it. Make sure it’s pepperoni and not mushroom.” Dean heard an annoyed mutter of agreement from Gabriel, but he ignored it as he caught sight of the most alarmingly blue eyes he’d ever seen. They weren’t the common baby blue, but a darker colour – like sapphire.

“Gabriel,” the sapphire-eyed boy began, “who is this?”

Gabriel stood and lazily introduced Dean, “this is Dean Winchester, an old high school friend. Dean, this is Cassie, my little brother.”

Dean held out a hand and Cassie shook it, whilst correcting Gabriel, “Cas _tiel_ , brother.” Then he released his hand from Dean’s and told him, “I hope you aren’t as much trouble as the others. Your brother speaks highly of you and I’d hate to ruin his vision of you.”

With those final – rather curt – words, Castiel turned and walked out of the kitchen, presumably to return to his room. Dean just widened his eyes at Gabriel, who just chuckled and responded with a shrug that said ‘ _what can you do?_ ’ before grabbing two cloths and tossing one to him. “Get cleaning, the food’s stuck to the tray.”

...

“Hey Sammy,” Dean locked the door behind him and greeted his brother with a grin. “I see you’re doing homework. Again.”

The younger sibling rolled his eyes. “Don’t call me _Sammy_ , Dean.” He then shut his book and stood, “And I need to study – the classes here are harder than in Sioux Falls.”

Dean just laughed and ruffled Sam’s hair, “dude, we all know you’re going to kick ass anywhere when it comes to school. Don’t stress so much.”

Sam just rolled his eyes and walked to the front door, “I have to meet a friend in fifteen at the library. I’ll be back by five.”

“Five? Who’s that friend?”

“No one, Dean. Just a friend I study with.”

“Studying? Are you sure-“

“YES!” Sam covered his ears. “Shut up, shut up, shut up. I’m leaving now!” He opened the door and stomped out. Dean sat back on the chair and waited thirty seconds, chuckling. After the half minute had passed, his brother returned with a frustrated look on his face. He grabbed his bag and, with the parting order ‘ _don’t laugh Dean_ ’, he left again.

“Bitch!” Dean called out.

“JERK!” He faintly heard Sam shout from outside.

...

“So how was your study date?” Dean asked through a mouthful of spaghetti.

“Really, Dean? At least talk with an empty mouth. And it wasn’t a study date. Not everyone wants to constantly get laid.” Sam complained as he twirled the spaghetti around his spoon. He tapped his foot on the ground impatiently, maybe waiting for something or nervous.

“Sammy, what is it?” Dean asked, “the tapping thing is driving me crazy.” And it was, because for the five minutes they ate in silence – well, Dean devoured his food and Sam just pushed it around his plate – Sam had been constantly tapping his foot and it was getting irritating.

“Would you- Can a friend come over Friday night? To study.”

Torn between teasing his brother about a new girlfriend and actually seriously asking who it was, Dean decided on the middle ground; “Who is this mystery friend then? Someone I should know?” He winked.

“No, just a study partner – he’d been helping me with English a bit. Cas is cool, you know. I’d rather you didn’t meet him and scare him off, but the library’s getting too loud.”

“Cas?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?”

Dean frowned and shook his head, “it just seems familiar for some reason, that’s all...”

“Erm, okay. But can he?” Wide eyes and a puppy face was in his sight, and it was his weakness, damn it.

“Fine, but don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” He cautioned with a wink, before finishing off his pasta.

“Dean, there’s little you wouldn’t do.”

“You know what I mean, smartass.” Dean walked out of the kitchen, making sure to smack Sam on the head for his comment. “I’m working tonight, so you tuck yourself in, princess.”

Sam just rolled his eyes and muttered an insult.

...

By the time Friday arrived, Dean had forgotten about their visitor, so it was a large surprise to see he was picking up two freshmen instead of one. The first was his growing younger brother, as annoying and long haired as always – yet not quite as tall as Dean. The second was taller than Sam, with black hair and blue eyes he recognised immediately.

Not knowing this, Sam introduced them. “Dean, this is Castiel Novak. Cas, this is-“

“Dean Winchester, your brother.” Castiel interrupted. “I have met him previously.” He held out a hand to Dean, “I’m afraid I was less than hospitable on our first encounter, but I had assumed Gabriel had enough manners to do so for me. Considering you paid for our dinner, I am sure I was wrong.”

Dean shook the freshman’s hand, “no big deal. It’s Gabe – he isn’t exactly model student or child, I guess.” Having been re-introduced, they separated hands and Dean’s immediately flew to his pockets. “So I guess you’re Sammy’s new study partner,” he reached out and ruffled his younger brother’s hair.

Said brother groaned in annoyance and glared as Dean refused to unlock the car. “Dean, it’s been more than a month – he’s hardly new.” He stopped his hand from flying to his face to cover his mouth, knowing almost for sure it was the wrong thing to say.

Dean’s face lit up and he opened his mouth to tease him – probably with something along the lines of _‘so it’s meet the parents time then?_’ – so Sam pushed him and demanded he open the Impala and let them in.

Suitably distracted with the task of leaving the school parking lot, he gave the freshmen a minute’s reprieve from the teasing. “Your brother seems to share a few characteristics with my own. It is slightly disconcerting.”

Sam nodded in agreement, “Dean doesn’t get as bad as Gabe. Your brother is just an unstoppable force.”

“He has been compared to a tornado quite frequently – most notably by our own father. It was a memorable occasion.”

Sam raised an eyebrow, not having heard this before, and opened his mouth to ask what had happened before Dean interrupted. “Oh, I remember that!” He laughed, “ it was back in sophomore year, and Gabriel had decided to tease his – well, _your_ ,” he corrected, nodding at Castiel, “older cousin - Anna I think. I can’t remember the specifics, but it was explosive, and not only figuratively.”

“Yes, it is a pity I wasn’t present to witness that. Anna has gotten rather irritable and irritating herself recently. She was much more tolerable in our childhood.”

“I met her once,” Dean added, “very rebellious. Not that I’m disapproving, nu-huh.”

Castiel locked eyes with Dean as the latter looked in the rear view mirror, “Well it was not beneficial for any of us when she ran away. That is not rebelling against parents; that is something else.”

Just then, Dean stopped the car and announced they arrived, and the prior conversation seemed to be forgotten almost immediately. Whilst Sam lead the way to their small apartment, Dean lagged behind watching the two friends interact.

This Castiel guy was very peculiar, not only in the spoken word. He himself just seemed to be strange, interesting, even.


	2. Older Brothers Must Tease. It's Practically a Law.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Castiel isn't sure what to think of Dean, only that he and Gabriel seem to take joy in teasing their younger siblings about potential girlfriends - or boyfriends - as if it were amusing somehow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cas' POV this time, and hopefully next chapter will be longer. This one is more of a way to get them to meet each other and get the story going.

Dean and Sam lived near the top of the building, high enough for the trip up the stairs to be tiring. The elevator had been out of service since before the brothers had moved in, and Dean had given up on complaining about it.

The three – the brothers and a tag along with the name Castiel – reached the eighth floor after a few minutes, and stood in silence as Dean looked for the keys in his pockets [it was ridiculous how many pockets he had in his leather jacket].

Castiel entered the apartment last, seeing first of all a large living room. A large L-shaped couch faced a television. He could see the kitchen through glass doors on the other side of the room, and it looked to be big enough for the two. He walked forward, listening to Sam talk about the lack of personality in the apartment. He was lead to the hallway and he followed his friend, noticing the walls were a light cream colour. Few photographs adorned the walls – all of them either having Sam or Dean with them, sometimes with an older man, possibly their father.

Three doors; two bedrooms and one a bathroom. He was shown the bathroom first, and then Sam’s room – it was light blue, similar to the sky when clear, and very tidy. He had a desk by the window and a full bookshelf next to it. The floor was wood, but a he had a small white rug which seemed as comfortable as the bed itself. The closet wasn’t too large – the bookshelf was larger – but it seemed to work, as Sam didn’t have clothes lying about everywhere.

“Dean won’t let me show you his room,” Sam told him as they returned to the kitchen, “but you’re not missing anything. It’s very messy and the walls are covered in posters. It’s exactly how you’d imagine Dean’s room to be.”

Castiel didn’t doubt it in the least, but he didn’t voice his thoughts. Instead, he retrieved his Chemistry book from his bag – which he had carelessly left by the door when he was having the grand tour – and rolled his eyes at Dean’s audible groan of annoyance.

“It’s only three,” Dean complained, “do you have to start studying so early?”

“We have a Chemistry test tomorrow morning,” Sam retorted without looking up from his own copy of the book, “I’d rather not fail it, thank you very much. Now if you would me – us – a favour; shut up.”

“Fine, fine! I’ll go and leave you two bookworms to study,” Dean raised his hands in surrender and then grabbed his jacket from the chair, “I’ll be back around eight, with dinner. Chinese?” the last question he directed at Sam, who looked up and nodded after thinking for a moment.

“Yeah, make sure to get me the red sauce – that brown one was too spicy.”

Dean grinned, “okay Princess. Your taste buds won’t burn tonight,” he waved as he left and slammed the door behind him.

Castiel, who had remained silent during the Winchesters’ exchange, raised an eyebrow at Sam, who shrugged. “That was polite.”

“I dread to see him being rude then,” Castiel replied, “if this is what you would call politeness.”

“You’ve yet to live with him – that would be something to dread.”

“I live in the same house as Gabriel; I would think I understand your dilemma all too well.”

“Tell me about it,” Sam muttered quietly.

Castiel frowned, as if asking why he wanted to know, and replied; “If you would like. I do not think you would enjoy it, however. My brother never forgets to reprimand me on how lacklustre I make his spectacles sound when I retell them. If you wished to know of Gabriel’s troublemaking, you best hear it from him.”

Sam closed the book and looked at Castiel in confusion, “No, Cas, I mean... Doesn’t matter.”

“As you wish,” Castiel looked back to his book, immersing himself in the topic. Sam stared at his friend, wondering how they’d become friends when Cas seemed so formal, and distant to most.

...

“I’ve got our dinner, Sammy,” Dean called as he opened the door, “and none of that healthy rubbish you seem to like so much.”

Sam and Castiel looked at each other in surprise, then at the clock. It was past half eight and the sky was already dark. “Shit,” Sam cursed, shutting his book quickly. “You were meant to go an hour ago, right?”

Castiel returned his books to his bag slowly, “I believe so. My mother prefers I don’t walk outside after dark – not at my age.”

“But Gabriel doesn’t-“

“He only fears mother, and we both know she would find out if I were walking the streets at nine.”

Dean entered the kitchen at that moment, not seeing Castiel, who was hidden behind the kitchen island storing his books. “You’re still studying? I’ve been out for hours!”

“Don’t act so surprised, Dean,” Sam scolded, “this is an important test.”

“Sammy, you think all tests are important,” Dean handed his brother the order and got his own. “Rela- WHAT THE FUCK?” Castiel stood and startled Dean, who almost dropped his food. “What are you doing here?”

“You can see I was, until minutes ago, studying. Was that not the reason I was invited here?” Castiel, gestured to his bag as he spoke, “but I am afraid we lost track of time. I must leave now.”

“Hey, hey, don’t be too hasty,” Dean caught his wrist and stopped the freshman from leaving. “You haven’t eaten at all, have you? Eat something and I’ll drive you home.” He slid his food over to Castiel, and sat across from the two younger boys.

Reluctant but obedient, Castiel sat and received the fork offered to him. “Thank you, Dean. I appreciate the offer.” He ate the food slowly, savouring the strange, unfamiliar flavours and completely missing the confused, questioning look Sam shot at Dean. As the blue eyed boy stated it was delicious, Sam mouthed ‘ _We’ll talk about this later_ ’, to which Dean stuck his tongue out and ignored him.

As they finished the food, Castiel bid his goodbye to Sam, who restrained from attacking Dean with questions there and then. He could wait until later. From the window, he saw Dean and Castiel emerge from the building and head to the Impala. They didn’t seem to be talking, and he almost choked when he saw Dean offer shotgun to the boy.

_ Cas and Dean on their way. Dean is letting Cas sit shotgun. Do they know each other? _

Sam sent a quick text to Gabriel – he’d never admit he willingly contacted the Trickster but this was necessary – and impatiently paced as he waited for the reply.

As far as I know they only met one time.

Are you sure it’s shotgun?

Sam rolled his eyes at the texts before typing out his reply.

_ Yes. It was shotgun.  _

He never lets anyone but you and me get in shotgun.

Well, me sometimes.

_ Exactly. _

...

“So, you’re Sam’s mysterious study partner,” Dean began. “I won’t lie, I expect more in the chest department.”

Castiel remained quiet.

“Maybe blonde hair instead of black and shorter” Dean continued.

Nothing from Castiel.

“I guess it doesn’t matter. Not for Sam - I always knew he was into dudes.”

Castiel sighed, “Sam and I are simply study partners – in the literal sense of the word – and friends. I do not understand where you got the impression that we are anything but. Perhaps a past experience of yours, or perhaps not. Nevertheless, it is not I Sam is interested in.”

“So if it isn’t you, who is it then?” Dean asked as casually as he could, wanting to worm out all the information he could out of the unsuspecting freshman.

“If you want to know, you would be better off asking your brother.”

There was a short silence, “You know I didn’t think Sam would be friends with someone like you.” Castiel raised an eyebrow but Dean just stared ahead at the road, “I mean you seem more mysterious and closed off and formal, while Sam is more happy-go-lucky and wears his heart on his sleeve.”

“The similarities are more important,” was Castiel’s only comment.

Dean looked sideways at Castiel, apparently thinking hard about something, and Castiel just stared back with his head tilted. “Yeah,” the green eyed man agreed absently, “I guess they are.”

...

“So, Dean Winchester, eh?” Gabriel winked at Castiel as he locked the front door behind him. His brother had just been dropped off by Dean and exited the car having been sitting shotgun.

“Yes, he had offered to give me a ride home. I found no need to refuse his offer.”

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Gabriel muttered as he trailed behind his younger brother into the hallway.

“I would rather you did not insinuate I, what was the word, _fancy_ a Winchester,” Castiel snapped as they reached his bedroom, “either of them.” He slammed the door after he entered his room, scoffing at the suggestive comments his brother made from the other side of the door. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not too happy with this chapter at some points, but I needed Castiel to talk to Dean even if it was just a little. The Gabriel teasing just happened.
> 
> I predict the story will be between 12 and 18 chapters [depending on the chapter length].   
> The story will be mostly in Cas' POV - all except, at most, three or four chapters (most likely in the beginning or the end).


End file.
